In answer to a query as to the United States’ position regarding discrimination against American Jews seeking to enter Palestine, the state Department today told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that it was their understanding that several thousand potential immigrants can still proceed to Palestine order the total allowed by the British White Paper of 1939 and they have no reason to believe that the Palestine Administration will discriminate against American citizens.
(It is understood that the more than 20,000 Palestine visas which can still be issued under the terms of the White Paper are restricted by the British authorities to refugees. At present the Palestine Government is refusing to issue visas to several hundred Jews in Yemen on the theory that they are not refugees from Nazi-held Europe.)
It was pointed out to the State Department that non-Jewish Americans will not be effected by the White Paper ban, and, therefore, the measure is regarded as constituting discrimination against American citizens because of their religious faith. The department, however, declared they would not take a stand on the post-war situation especially since no shipping was available to take American citizens to Palestine now anyway. If a case of an American citizen seeking admittance being denied it comes up, they will deal with the problem then, the Department said.
The Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe announced that it has demanded that the British government “clear up the mystery of the whereabouts” of the more than 20,000 certificates of admittance to Palestine and strongly suggested that the certificates be turned over immediately to the war Refugee Board, “a United States agency which daily is saving Jewish lives.” This demand was made public after a request to the British Government, through its Ambassador in Washington, to place these certificates at the disposal of the British consulates in Turkey and Spain, had been turned down.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
